Art & Inspiration Something is just not quite right

The part of the car or truck you stare at day in and day out while you are driving your hot rod or custom - The dash.

I was riding in a friends car recently and we were talking about the modifications he wanted to make to the stock dash and he came by the house last night to look at the modifications I did to the wagon.

He thought my dash was stock until I showed him a photo of a original '54 Ford and I got to thinking about all the cars the Hambers have but there must be a lot of you guys that have created some real stand out dash's, so I would be great if you could add a original look dash and your custom dash. HRP

original.


Our reworked wagon.

 

the one i did for the AV8, had to mill some spacers to make newer depth gauges fit...

20180402_054916 by Chappy444 posted Jun 15, 2018 at 9:16 AM

and one i made from walnut for an OT car... unless your familiar with the gauge placement on the original its hard to tell that it has been modified...

DSC_0204-1 by Chappy444 posted Jul 12, 2018 at 11:22 AM

Chappy

 

I can't say I'VE made it stand out. But I certainly simplified it.

 

All I got!
Before:
Pretend those holes aren't there.

After:

 

I agree. Dashes are an important part of a car & are often over looked. Some of our currant wagon project going together.

 

My is in the rough stage....I took two 1959 Chevy dashes and combined them. Now I am making a fiberglass copy of it so I can mount it in my radial 1963 Bird.

 

Chappy nice to see another spitfire owner on here to...


Here is mine from my 59 rambler wagon. Almost complete except a few switches and some pin striping on the panel opposite of the speedo panel.

 

My 51, after
Still not quite done, switches to left, gauges on right, indicator lights around speedo, behind perf steel

My 51, before, as I was starting

 

I like the ka-nobbies, Russ.

 

My '39 Deluxe coupe-an original dash, and my re-worked dash (my car is an old HotRod) a previous owner started on the dash, I continued by filling holes, painting it, etc, adding all Stewart Warner gauges, and adding an additional chrome trim at the lower portion.

 

The best modified dashes don't scream that they have been modified. They look like they should have been that way in the first place.

 

My dash is quiet
Not quite right though

 

This is my 41 Plymouth dash. I resisted the temptation to smooth it and sunk the instruments into the original gauge housing. Also kept a stock steering wheel and horn ring. I'm really happy with how it turned out.

 

Mine with stock gauges



With SW gauges mounted in stock panel



Color change to gloss black



Have now added GM tilt column and 67 Chevelle wheel, not shown
In hindsight, I should have painted the gauge bezels black to hide them better. I'm not happy with the way the dash paint turned out, so it will be redone at a later date.

 

…….

I've been weighting for that! Go Dooley (or dually)

 

Started as an off topic rat/street rod from PO. Removed GM tilt column, one piece windshield, vintage air, ugly steering wheel. Replaced stock column and wheel. Modified original shift lever to operate turn signals, rebuilt stock heater, filled radio and ash tray/air conditioner holes, changed transmission from AOD to manual. Modified switch area to space out switches. Happy its done.

 

The original dash on my newest project had the original gauges hacked out, with only a rusty thin sheet metal outer surface remaining. The after picture is an in progress picture, the steering wheel has been replaced with an old 15" Superior wood grip wheel, and the under dash wires hanging around under the dash have been tided up, but the paint surrounding it is still ugly. Gene

 

View attachment 4192916 This dash in my '37 sedan has served me well over the 30 years since I put it in. The gauges are nothing special - clustered on the raised portion. In the center I closed the radio opening and ash tray. My 1980s era A/C unit is huge by today's standards and was designed with a large outlet direct from the box that would exit under the center of the dash. I dropped the center of the dash so I could put a radio under the A/C outlet. The Vintage Air controls are early engraved. I painted the engraving for contrast. The left knob is headlights and the right is wipers.

 

My girl thought the after was a lot better than the before.......

 

Not to be an**** but some of these stock dashes look a lot better than the after photos.

 

I rarely see a custom dash that I prefer or even comes close to the stock dash. But this one I like!




Bones

 

No before, just the after on my Ford. Fortunately all the chrome just needed a polish. I found new gauge faces to fix up the fuel & temp gauges, added the Summit gauge pack and generally painted everything else.

 

OT dash I have been working on.

 

I see where you are coming from. It is tough to improve on some of these original dashes. They have more going on then a cluster of round gauges. But then again, round gauges are better then LED displays. I don't have a problem with gauges mounted below the dash.

 

I usually do not change the dash much,the manufactures spent time and effort to make it flow with the rest of the car and I would most likely screw it up.

 

Here's 3 pics of mine. Sometimes I think I should have gone with engine turned insert, then sometimes I don't, depends on which way the wind is blowing. The gauges are Classic Instruments and kind of hard to read especially at night. I was going to use SW Wings but won these thru P&J which was a deciding factor.

 

Here is what I made for my '31 sedan. Wanted the shape to look similar to a Model A. Made it from a piece of 1/4" aluminum and engine turned it.

 

New gauges, late 40s Dodge turn/bright light indicator, glove box door filled and smoothed, and of course custom woodgrain (go figure). The burl on the switch plates was added and of course the V8 'inlay' as well over the filled glovebox door. The radio delete and switch plate/ashtray bezels were rechromed, I'll paint the stripes in the radio delete (not shown) a bright burnt orange to highlight and compliment the needles in the gauges. I don't like the digital odometer but it was a small concession, and I really dig the font on the new gauges.

 

The dash I built for my Roadster and the Dealer give away pocket knife with a working key in it. Gary